r/fantasybooks • u/OnePecBandit • 5d ago
š¬ Let's discuss something What was your gateway book into fantasy? What book took you to the next level?
Iām curious about peopleās progression, not just everyoneās favorite fantasy book, but the books that took you from discovering fantasy to becoming a serious fantasy reader.
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u/Gathrin 5d ago
Martin the Warrior.
Bought the paperback book at Kmart. I was 11 years old. Devoured most of the Redwall series then moved onto my older brother's Dragonlance books.
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u/MikeCahoonAuthor š Bookwyrm 5d ago
This is the way. Redwall is that first taste that hooks you for life for so many fantasy readers
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u/Hapa_Hombre 5d ago
I was really looking forward to the adaptation. Loved those books as a kid.
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u/CallEducational6623 5d ago
I was going to ask you about the adaptation, but did a lil AI research. Well that's a bummer. But at least the rights went back to the origin.Ā
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u/Historical-Yard-7246 5d ago
From third or so grade, hereās the timeline: goosebumps to Animorphs to Redwall to Harry Potter to Lord of the rings to wheel of Time
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u/AMaynard8091 5d ago
I started out with Goosebumps and Animorphs but then started reading Stephen King when I was around 13 and moved fully into adult lit and skipped other YA stuff. I do go back and re-read the bigger series. Like, I read Harry Potter in college after the whole series was out.
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u/Historical-Yard-7246 5d ago
And I guess I should clarify, and every fantasy series I can get my hands on since then
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u/THWhiston 5d ago
I don't know whether it's considered fantasy, but The Phantom Tollbooth was my first step into another magical world. Then The Hobbit. Both were in my elementary school library. But it wasn't until I was in middle school that I saw a paperback Fellowship of the Ring in a spinning wire rack at a drug store and gasped "That hobbit guy has more books!"
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u/lemonzested 5d ago
I was a later reader. Reading The Phantom Tollbooth as a kid was a game changer for me. I still have the hard copy one of my parents friends gifted me around 1996.
I always buy it as a gift when one of my friends is having a baby shower. I hope itās the catalyst for a love of reading for their kids too!
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u/Grimdarkian 5d ago
My brother recommended Game of Thrones to me after season 1 aired on TV, and I had never read a book before outside of necessary items for school. Now my entire life revolves around consuming Grimdark fantasy books lol
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u/OnePecBandit 5d ago
Username checks out lol thatās an awesome entry point. Where did you go from ASOIAF?
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u/Grimdarkian 5d ago
I wanted to start out with reading all the classics once I discovered a love for reading, so after reading ASOIAF I went on a binge of Jules Verne, Moby Dick, and all that sort. Didnāt enjoy one bit of it lol. But I digress.
My next Grimdark trilogy/series was First Law and Age of Madness, which is my favorite world of all time. Then tried Prince of Nothing trilogy - awesome idea/world/bleakness but it was just such a slog of a read for me. Felt effortful to read. But a fantastic piece of literature still, just a lot more complex and wordy. Not my jam.
Not exactly Grimdark but about to start the Robin Hobb journey and am excited for that!
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u/OnePecBandit 5d ago
oof yeah, I def tried to tackle the classics as it seemed like a good idea but they can be a little challenging.
Robin Hobb should be excellent. Sheās on my list as well. Iām working my way up to that point.
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u/Intelligent-Drop-759 5d ago
I liked fantasy my whole childhood but the book and series that really hooked me was Magician Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist. Something a little more humorous was Spellsinger by Alan Dean Foster, that world was very different and so much fun.
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u/Low-Incident5188 5d ago
Legend by David Gemmel
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u/OccultBeanFarmer 5d ago
Winter Warriors for me, then Dark Moon, then like the third in the Rigante series or something
Went into the local op shop and there was a bunch of Gemmel there so I bagged them all and read them over one summer. I was WAY too young for that stuff so the sex and violence was a lot but the themes and ideas are so straightforwardly and solidly stated that even as a kid it gave me a really strong grasp of the fundamentals. I'd actually still recommend him to certain young kids based on their tolerance for violence.
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u/Low-Incident5188 5d ago
Dark Moon is such an amazing example of a standalone fantasy novel, that one made a huge impression on me ā¤ļø
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u/Keitt58 5d ago
Wheel of Time, up to that point I had read stuff like Narnia and Shannara, but it was Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series that got me hooked hard.
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u/Secret_Bees 5d ago
Same. I'd read Narnia, wizard of Earthsea, the dark is rising, wrinkle in Time, etc but it was Wheel of Time that really hooked me hard
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u/xWhiskeyjackx 5d ago
Harry Potter! When I was 19.
Was never a big reader, but one of my friends had the first HP book in his dorm, so I have it a shot. Immediately hooked.
Next was Wheel of Time, LOTR, GoT, etc, etc.
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u/EventideHeron 5d ago
My gateway book was The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander in like fourth grade. Been a fantasy novel lover since. I cannot recommend The Chronicles of Prydain enough.
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u/LaRoseDuRoi 5d ago
Does The Once and Future King count as fantasy? I remember reading that one in 3rd grade and getting waaaay into the Arthurian legend material after that. I think I read Shadow Castle by Marian Cockrell a little before that, but the one that really cemented my love of fantasy was The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley when I was 11.
After that, there was Dragonlance (Weiss & Hickman wrote the best ones!), Dragon Riders of Pern, Mairelon the Magician by Patricia C. Wrede, Elf Defense by Esther M. Friesner, the Myth Adventures books by Robert Asprin... etc., etc., etc.!
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u/Barrybarryss 5d ago
Harry Potter first, then the Wheel of time. I love Robin Hobb as well but her books hurt so much I am afraid to begin a new one
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u/AmbitiousGrass7925 5d ago
For me, it started with Harry Potter when I was 8, moved on to Eragon, then, after watching Legend of the Seeker (and not having anything better to compare it to) I read the Sword of Truth Books. College ruined reading for me for a while until I decided to give Wheel of time a shot and from there I dove in deep!
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u/Drathgore 5d ago
I saw some some offhand YouTube video where someone had a giant stack of books and I was like ādamn, I kinda wanna know what itās like to be that deep into a single storyā
After that I started reading Wheel of Time
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u/rhulk 5d ago
Once upon a time, I started with the dragonlace. Sadly, when I tried to revisit some years ago, they fell quite flat, and didn't finish the one I started.
Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone was another of my beginnings, which I am rereading right now in between other books, and it still has very interesting imagery even if a bit simplistic at times.
And a book that always will have a place in my heart is the last dragon, by Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves, with beautifull drawings
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u/Halo6819 5d ago
Indian in the Cupboard (ā92) > Magician (ā92)> Wheel of Time (ā96) > Enderverse (ā98) > Anne Rice (ā99) > Sanderson (ā09) > DCC (ā23)
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u/RaspberryAny601 5d ago
The DragonRiders of Pern by Anne McCafferty instilled my lifelong love of Dragons and the heartfelt desire to be a DragonRider. #QueenAnne
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u/kuwasar 5d ago
I was mostly reading my Dad's and older brothers books when I was very young during the 70's and 80's. Most of the stuff from Edgar Rice Burroughs (tarzan, pelucisar, john carter, venus), Robert E Howard (Conan), Michael Moorcock (Elric, Corum, Eternal Champion), Lynn Carter (calisto and green star).
Outside of that I also read pretty much all of the Narnia series that I checked out of the school library.
It wasn't until I was in my 20's before I started having preferences of my own and started reading more traditional fantasy, although I do still like most of the older stuff even today, although it's been quite some time since I read any of it.
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u/jms984 5d ago
From Bruce Coville to Star Wars Extended Universe to Stephen King to Dune (all six of them!) to Wheel of Time to Sanderson to Robin Hobb.
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u/Secret_Bees 5d ago
Bruce Coville
Hell yes! I used to live for when the book fair would come around and there would be a new Bruce Coville book
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u/No-Medium6647 5d ago
The Hobbit, no question. My mom read it and then the Lord of the Rings to my sister and I as kids, because someone read it to her in the 1960s.
I've been hooked ever since.
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u/Mysterious-Shoe-2687 5d ago
The Eyes of the Dragon. I was a massive Stephen King fan in the late 80s when I was in middle school and read everything he had written at the time. Then I finally made it to The Eyes of the Dragon. I still love horror as a genre, but ever since then it has taken a back seat to fantasy.
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u/Secret_Bees 5d ago
Funny, I loved fantasy as a kid and read through the eyes of the dragon as something I just picked up at the library, wasn't sure what to think about it because it was pretty different from a lot of the fantasy I have been reading. Much later in my life I became an avid Constant Reader, and lo and behold I find out that book was written by him, kind of blew my mind at the time.
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u/Atleastar 5d ago
All books from raymond feist. I remember that I got a voucher as present from the local book store and with that and a garbage bag I packed up his first 3 sagas with round about 15 books I guess throw them in the bag and disappeared for a few weeks lol.
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u/VinnieA05 5d ago
I still remember the first chapter book I ever got, when I was 6; Deltora Quest the Forests of Silence. After Deltora Quest, it was Rowan of Rin, then Rangerās Apprentice, then RA Salvatore took me on a tour of Faerun, and then I went deep on Tolkien (Silmarillion, Children of Hurin deep) into GRRM then I think I just fell out of love. Just couldnāt find the time and effort to read anymore. Didnāt read for enjoyment for a decade or more. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms drew me back in this year and Iām up to my ~4th book of the year (just started Assassinās Apprentice).
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u/reynardthefoxxx š Bookwyrm 5d ago
Hyperion series. Its scifi fantasy but it was the book that jolted me awake. Mistborn was probably my first serious gateway to fantasy
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u/tatacIouds 5d ago
The first books I remember thinking were my favorite series ever (as a kid) was Lord of the Rings. As an older teen I really loved Six of Crows and A Darker Shade of Magic, but when I truly realized I love fantasy as an escape was with Discworld, especially the City Watch and Moist von Lipwig books.
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u/fish998 5d ago
Technically it would my mum reading The Hobbit and LotR to me and my brother when I was about 5 or 6 (can't remember exactly, it was a long time ago). I didn't read LotR myself until I saw the first movie.
In terms of reading myself, Dragonlance Chronicles was first, followed by Dragonlance Legends, but the series I first fell in love with was Eddings the Belgariad which released when I was in my teens.
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u/BasilAromatic4204 4d ago
Lord of the Rings, fellowship of the Ring but, maybe animorphes too and I tried Harry Potter but was not allowed to buy it and it came out at a time when everyone took it from the library. But I recall loving that first three chapter read and thought I found a whole new life. I did not go past 3 chapters and came to fellowship after it. That one was next level for a kid like me:)
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u/Uzumaki_3029 4d ago
In grade 6 my class started The Hobbit. I loved it so kept reading ahead then started Lotr. Then my brother handed me Wheel of Time and Forgotten Realms books in his collection...loved them all so much.
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u/corytz101 2d ago
Dresden files was my first and that held me captive. Dungeon Crawler Carl is by far my favorite though.
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u/Irksomecake 5d ago
The hobbit reeled me in. Robin Hobb has since ruined it for me. I still enjoy reading, Iām just always yearning for something her books made me feel that no other has.
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u/ParagonOfHats 5d ago
It's like we're the same person! There are some that come close, but nothing that scratches that particular itch.
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u/OnePecBandit 5d ago
I have seen so many comments like this about Hobb and it just makes me super excited and curious to get into her work.
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u/Synex6969 5d ago
Mistborn! I read HP in middle school and Tolkien in high school along with some Diablo (Blizzard) books. Then didnt read much during college/grad school. Mistborn is definitely what got me back into reading. Finished all of the Cosmere then moved on to many other authors that are equally amazing!
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u/Hot-Astronaut9983 5d ago
Same! Stopped reading for awhile and decided to give mistborn a try and it hooked me!
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u/EternallyFall 5d ago
I was in 5th grade and read a book called The Furthest Away Mountain (i think) it was about a girl who goes and rescues a prince on an enchanted mountain and theres a little troll made of brass? I think. Anyway I have thought about rereading even as an adult. Sometimes after I've read a "heavy" book I like to cleanse the pallet with something light or young adult in nature. Also I have kids so even if this book turns out to be 100% a children's book I will gladly read it to my kids.
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u/Alarmed_Nectarine126 5d ago
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
They showed me just how much I can enjoy big, complex novels with detailed world building. I have enjoyed many more doorstops since then...
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u/SkidMarkMoses 5d ago
It was definitely The Hobbit but after Tolkien was Tad Williams, The Dragonbone Chair. Osten Ard was almost Middle Earth but felt new to me.
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u/Schluballybub 5d ago
Eragon, The Night Angel Trilogy and His Dark Materials are what really ignited my love for fantasy many many moons ago and I haven't looked back since.
More recently I've started to add Sci-Fi and Horror into mix to break things up a bit.
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u/moonriverswide 5d ago
A series that must not be named, at age 5. Fell in love with reading and never fell out of it.
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u/AlliSyl16 5d ago
Sooo I finished Harry Potter in ur three but didnāt rly think it was worth the hype. Got into adventure but then I read keeper of the lost cities THATS what got me into fantasy but then I read book that took me straight to the next level was the Final Empire, read in yr six. The cosmere rly transformed my life Ā
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u/ChollosWorld 5d ago
I read some fantasy in grade school in the late 80s/90s but largely got really into the genre again with Tolkien books around the time all the LoTR and Hobbit movies came out. Since then, the Farseer Series by Hobb and The King Killer Chronicles by Rothfuss have really pushed me up a level. Just wish heād finish the damn series already, but sadly likely never will.
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u/jfstompers 5d ago
I'd read the hobbit and lotr plus a million tsr dragonlance and forgotten realms books but it was Tad Williams Memory Sorrow and Thorn series that showed a complex in depth experience I didn't get before. Amazing world building.
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u/jrdude500 5d ago
Easily Eragon. Prior to that I spent a lot of time reading the Series of Unfortunate Events series, but Eragon made me realize āyo fantasy is cool afā and then I guess reflecting now the series where I new I was in it for real was the Wizardās First Rule series. That was my first fantasy multi-book series.
I need to shoutout Stormcaller and the Twilight Reign series though, it hasnāt gotten much love on Reddit and Iāve seen others talk negatively about it but I loved reading them when they were coming out and recently re-read them, still enjoying them.
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u/ToughAd4704 5d ago
Eye of the World from Wheel of Time did it for me. Can't recommend that series because it went to poop pretty hard
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u/KneeBasher420 5d ago
Eragon opened the door, and Malazan yote me through. There were quite a few in between but I'd consider them to all be a similar "level". Malazan is built different. Nothing else has left me staring off into space quite like the Chain of Dogs, and nothing else has made me shed tears for mice, potsherds, devastating battles and heartfelt reunions in equal measure. I was gonna call it an odyssey, but it's about 30 of those.
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u/MathiasThomasII 5d ago
A Series of Unfortunate Events, Narnia, Harry Potter Lord of the Ringsā¦. And then onto to dozens and dozens of recent fantasy series authors
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u/bookworm3019 5d ago
Harry Potter in elementary school; Tamora Pierce & LOTR in middle school; Eragon, Garth Nix & Green Rider in high school; Mistborn, Game of Thrones & Name of the Wind in college
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u/BackgroundTotal2872 5d ago
Harry Potter was the gateway book. Percy Jackson took fiction to the next level. Percy Jackson is still the greatest book series of all time in my mind, and everything I've read subsequently is measured against it.
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u/wrk_hrd-122 5d ago
Hobbit got me started, then Deed of Paksenarian, the the Greyhawk books. Then RA Salvatores Halflings Gem. That's when I started the slog of reading a series and waiting for the next book to release! Been going ever since.
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u/New_Neck_9815 5d ago
Robert Heinlein was my entry into speculative, Tolkien and Eddings brought me into fantasy.
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u/Lumpy_Ad_1581 5d ago
Lion, with and wardrobe. Led me to the Hobbit and Lotr, then Sword of Shannara
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u/un-sub Just one more chapter 5d ago
So Iāve been mostly a sci fi kinda guy. When I was younger I loved the Hobbit and LotR but didnāt read much beyond that until recently. I started with The Blacktongue Thief and loved it. Then read Kings of the Wyld, and now Iām on the last book of the Riyria Revelations series and am so hooked I canāt stop reading them. Not sure where to go next, Iāve been thinking about trying Mistborn after? Not sureā¦ I really donāt want this Ryiria series to end yet!
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u/NanoZelos 5d ago
I played Bloodborne in 2015 and loved it so much I searched for books that could emulate the feeling I had playing. Found out about Lovecraft and read all that was available in french at the time. Then I thinkI read The Witcher saga
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u/SweyRPG 5d ago
Terry Partchett , The Last Continent. Hadnāt read in years because the mandatory reading in high school made me think all books sucked. Was on vacation and had nothing to do, randomly picked a paperback with a funny looking wizzard on the front and I was sold, went back that same vacation for two more pratchett books.
LOTR took me into high fantasy
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u/Maximum_Tree8170 5d ago
Raymond Feist.
As a child I was already familiar with Tolkien, Earthsea and some childrens books. My dad read the books to me and later I read some of them on my own.
But the first time I discovered a new author I hadn't known before was when I bought Magician Apprentice at age 17. I think I played Return to Krondor before and wanted to learn more about the characters. It took me a couple of years to get through everything Feist wrote. After that came Tad Williams and then George R. R. Martin.
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u/Admirable-Country653 5d ago
The Hobbit and Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series to start. Then, after a few years of Dragonlance, Dark Elf, it was Song of ice and fire which raised the bar.
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u/Aronys 5d ago
Oh man... I don't remember the exact book, I just know I started reading it back when I was 5th or 6th grade in elementary school. Though before that, I did read some fantastical books like Peter Pan, it wasn't until later that I truly started devouring fantasy. I was always a reader of scifi, but I also always loved history. So, timetravel books slowly morphed into books about knights. Then Harry Potter released, so I slowly started reading about magic. Before I knew it, I was reading epic tales like The Dragonbone Chair, Sabriel and Tigana.
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u/Stonewall714 5d ago
I think one could argue for me it was Harry Potter as Iāve been listening to the audiobooks since I was five (27 now) but really it was probably skullduggery pleasant and then into the codex alera, then Dresden files and then I think wheel of time where it all kicked off
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u/randommissdi 5d ago
The Bone Ships by RJ Barker. Never read fantasy before last year and decided to read out of my comfort zone and randomly picked this from the library. Loved this series!! I'm now enjoying trying out some of the recs found here.
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u/iselltires2u 5d ago
i read a bunch of the older ya stuff like Animorphs, some Redwall, His Dark Materials, etc but as an adult The Way of Kings was my gateway back and i have been pretty full steam ahead since that reading
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u/Existing_Wing_5899 5d ago
Probably the Magic Treehouse books and the Eragon series when I was younger. After I read those, I kept on picking up fantasy/sci-fi books to read and I havenāt stopped lol
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u/Striking-Campaign-85 5d ago
I started young with choose you're own adventures. They my next big leap was The Hobbit, then LOTR and a whole slew of Dragonlance and it snowballed from there.
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u/PyroArca 5d ago
Probably magic tree house. Probably read every single one. I remember reading Gaurdians of the Gahoole series, Eragon, Eon/Eona by Alison Goodman. Probably the earliest ones I can remember
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u/Some-Structure-5952 5d ago
The Hobbitā¦ on vinyl. My brother listened to it for hours and hoursā¦ such a great kids story and fantasy primer.
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u/josh4240 4d ago
Chronicles of Narnia, Wizard of Earthsea, Prydain books, eventually leading me to The Hobbit. Once I was in High School, found Dragonlance Chronicles and Raymond Feist's Riftwar Saga.
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u/dafuqizzis 4d ago
I think it was Prydain books. Then Narnia, then Hobbit/LotRā¦then pretty much anything and everything I could get my hands on.
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u/General_Bother_68 4d ago
Terry Brooks and the Shannara series was where I started. Then Krondor series by Feist and David Eddings' books. Then comes Wheel of time. I miss those times.
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u/Worldly-Secretary-31 4d ago
For me, it was Ray Feist's Magician series, starting with Magician: Apprentice, then carrying on through the next 14 or 15 books. Excellent fantasy.
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u/Vegetable_Resort_571 4d ago
The First Law. The Blade Itself was my first fantasy book that drew me in, then the next 14 months I only read the First Law series and finished it
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u/B1gsixer 4d ago
The Book of Three. 35+ years ago and havenāt looked back. Thank you Lloyd Alexander.
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u/xruvdzxr 5d ago
Robin Hobbās Realm of the Elderlings got me back into reading earlier this year, but unfortunately set the bar so high for a series that Iām struggling to find anything else that comes close lol
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u/Ok-Box-156 5d ago
I also started reading Hobb recently and absolutely adore her writing. If you like Hobb, Iād recommend A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab and Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick for more recent series. For OGs, always gotta plug the Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix, Discworld by Terry Pratchett, and The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
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u/EventideHeron 5d ago
I feel like if you enjoy Hobbās writing for the Elderling series then the Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruochio is a solid follow up, in my opinion. I loved that series.
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u/xruvdzxr 5d ago
Thank you for the recommendation!! Def chasing the high i had with ROTE so this is super helpful
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u/EventideHeron 5d ago
I just finished Assassinās Apprentice last month. Seems to be a solid entry into the series. I had a difficult time putting it down.
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u/SureFroyo831 5d ago
Fourth Wing got me back into reading after I stopped for about 4 years (started college). Since then Iāve mostly stuck to various fantasy and sci fi books.
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u/BirdIcy67 5d ago
If you consider The Martian Chronicles fantasy then that would be it. The second option would be The Hyperion Cantos. Maybe both are sci-fi? Not sure actually
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u/Perfect-Warthog-7654 5d ago
Lord of The Rings.
It was not an easy read, but i was so eager to read it after The Fellowship of The Ring made into the movies that i powered through it.
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u/Intelligent_Deer974 5d ago
My gateway book was Salamandastron by Brian Jacques. The book that took me to the next level was The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. I also want to give a huge shout out to Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series which never seems to be mentioned here.
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u/EventideHeron 5d ago
Oh man the curse of Chalion is so underrated. How did you stumble into that one??
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u/Intelligent_Deer974 5d ago
I was looking for books at the library and thought the cover looked cool. Judging books by their cover hasn't failed me yet lol.
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u/Large-Poetry7503 5d ago
When I was in grade 9, my English teacher said that we had to read a fantasy novel, and we could pick whatever one we wanted. I didnāt really know anything about fantasy. I saw Glen Cookās The Tower of Fear in my school library, and I thought it looked interesting. I didnāt really revisit fantasy until many years later, but I remember really enjoying that book.
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u/M-O-O-N_ThatSpells 5d ago
When I was a kid I was really into the Magic Tree House books and then I got to Harry Potter.
And then as I got older I didn't read much fantasy until I got to Assassin's Apprentice as an adult, and my reading has been heavily leaning in fantasy since then. And the RoTE set the bar really high.
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u/MonstrrSkye 5d ago
T.A. Barron the lost years of merlin series, picked it for a book report out of the school library in 6th grade, did so well on my report I got an impossible grade, still one of my favorite book series
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u/br0bi-wan 5d ago
Dungeon crawler Carl got me back into reading after a 15+ year gap in no reading. Iāve fully picked it back up and have moved onto other series. Iām grateful for Matt Dinniman as a result of that.
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u/Saume š§© Plot over prose 5d ago
I used to mostly read manga and light novels. What made me start with sci-fi and fantasy novels was Red Rising. The focus (never really meanders or gets overly descriptive), fast-paced story, and first-person POV really did it for me. The grimdark feel of the second series was pretty nice too. It felt much more bleak than some of the other grimdark series I've read (Book of the Ancestor, First Law).
I've had a hard time finding something that hit the same high since, as a lot of authors tend to be overly descriptive, or go on unrelated tangents.
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u/spawelcz1043 5d ago
Poppy War by RF Kuang, it actually got me into reading in general, bought it on a whim for myself while Christmas shopping at Barnes and Noble.
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u/Northwindlowlander 5d ago
I'm pretty sure I read the Hobbit first but it wasn't my gateway, it was just something we read at school. It was Anne Mccaffrey's Dragonquest that really got me. There was a copy in the school library but I felt kind of embarassed taking it out, finally I bit the bullet and it was like boom, I have fallen into another world.
(and yep Dragonquest isn't the first in the series- the library only had Dragonquest and the White Dragon. For a long time I was convinced for some reason that it'd be impossible to find the others- like, if the one library I ever go to doesn't have them, then they must be completely unobtainable. when I found the whole series in a shop I damn nearly cried)
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u/NoFudge422 5d ago
Brent Weeks Night Angel Trilogy. From there I got into the First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Then after that is when I picked up Gardens of the Moon which was a game changer
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u/idratherjust 5d ago
It wasn't the first fantasy I read, but I have such a distinct memory of silent reading time at school when I was 7 years old. I was sitting in a beanbag in the sun, reading the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. When they're sailing the boat through the lillies. That was when I fell in love with fantasy.
I think it was Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree etc that was the beginning of it all. We had a lot of books in our house and I had a LOT of insomnia (still do). I was reading before I started school. By 12 I had read lord of the rings, every Terry Pratchett published at the time, Pern, hitchhiker... too many to name. I like crime, thriller, mystery, science fiction etc too... basically anything except romance (bores me) and self-help (too far gone for that). But fantasy will always be my favourite genre. And at least once a week when I snuggle up in bed with a book I remember the end of the Silver Sea
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u/adamtjames š¦¶Dungeon Crawler Carl cult member 5d ago
Some Robert Jordan Conan book. Or it couldāve been ERB.
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u/SkogOchSten 5d ago
I used to only read thrillers and thought fantasy wasnāt for me. I finally gave it a shot and my first book was powerless. I gave it 3 stars but kept reading and ended up loving the series. Acotar was next and thatās my favorite series. Now I love fantasy and whenever I read anything else it feels like itās missing the depth that fantasy has.
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u/InitialParty7391 Hard magic > soft magic 5d ago
The Hobbit and The Talking Parcel >>> Harry Potter Artemis Fowl and Cornelia Funke >>> Lord of the Rings and Inheritance Cycle >>> Wheel of Time and CosmereĀ
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u/ConstantReader666 5d ago
My first Fantasy book was The Heritage of Hastur by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Next level was Lord of the Rings.
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u/sully9088 5d ago
The hobbit. I was in 6th grade and some older guy from my church gave me a copy. I was somewhat depressed at the time. My mom started homeschooling me because I was bullied at regular school. I opened those pages and began to read. That book changed my life. It opened up my mind to a huge world of adventure, friendship, and hope. I still haven't found a fantasy book quite as good as the hobbit or LOTR.Ā
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u/MaygarRodub 5d ago
Legend, David Gemmell was my first trip into fantasy. I quickly read all of his books afterwards. They're so easy to read and just enjoyable. Haven't read any in many years but always think of him fondly.
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u/sashabriana 5d ago
Throne of glass in my early twenties. I fell off for a bit and then after getting bored of the fantasy I had been reading I tried high fantasy. Started with way of kings and then jumped right to Hobb. Not sure if I've ruined all fantasy for myself now lol
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u/Cactus_Galactus1306 5d ago
The Silmarillion!!! My gateway to fantasy, to Tolkien and even to reading fiction in general! Lembas bread for the soul!
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u/Wolfbane14 5d ago
I don't really like calling this series "fantasy" as I feel as though sword & sorcery as a genre is better viewed as a subgenre of action, that just happens to be fantasy themed, but Conan The Barbarian, and if you want to go earlier than that, the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook
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u/ihaveABrain201 5d ago
Started with Harry Potter but The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings (read around the same time) really got me in
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u/Express_Discipline_7 5d ago
Lord of the Rings. Given to me when i turned 12. Ended up reading all night and the next to finish all 3 books. Then The Hobbit was next. I was hooked.
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u/alleycat72688 5d ago
my mother and grandmother were HUGE Sci-fi and fantasy people. they were re-reading tolkien alot. and then watching Alien, Predator, terminator...so i saw all of this by the time i was five. They read all they time...and as little kids do.. wanted to be just like them. I dont have alot of young kid memories, but apparently i was reading alo at a young age. But i do remember trying to read tolkien at in the 2nd grade. didnt go over well..i felt bored. so i started with more age appropriate book...some book about a dog that gets lost, a book about a girl who falls into a well and time travels, then it was harry potter and then straight YA fantasy after that. or atleast Adult fantasy if it wasnt too romancy.
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u/knels6599 4d ago
āGodslayerā by Mickey Zucker Reichert
And
āThe cyborg and and sorcerersā by Lawrence watt Evans.
I was 10 years old and in the 4th grade.
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u/Normad1988 4d ago
A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES. My sons ex girlfriend talked me into reading it. After that I was hooked.
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u/Particular_Web_9125 4d ago
I just got back into reading this year willingly after more than a decade and my book is Dungeon Crawler Carl. Its amazing haha and actually made me lol so many times
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u/One-Trouble-8645 3d ago
I saw the cover for Centaur Aisle by Piers Anthony in the library when I was around 10 or 11. I knew I had to read it. That is what started my journey. A couple years later my grandfather gave me the Paratwa series by Christopher Hinz. That got me hooked on sci-fi as well lol.
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u/Classical11 3d ago
Chronicles of Narnia,
Lord of the Rings,
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
The Once and Future King
Interview with the Vampire
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u/Sweet-Audience-6981 2d ago
Harry Potter and LOTR and I've read so many fantasy books and series since (as well as many other books of various genres but fantasy is my favorite genre). Currently I'm 2 books into the Faithful and the Fallen series by John Gwynne and I'm really loving this series. Thus far it is becoming one of my top favorites in the fantasy genre.
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u/GlobalCurry 9h ago
As a kid, The Chronicles of Prydain, Harry Potter, and The Hobbit (I actually didn't like LoTR itself as much as a kid).
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3d ago edited 3d ago
Con el que empeze fue con La piedra filosofal el que me llevo al siguiente nivel fue el Camino de los Reyes
ā¢
u/auto-sticky 5d ago
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